Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A prefeasibility study (PFS) into the Woodlark gold project, in Papua New Guinea, has found that the project could deliver a production of more than 100 000 oz/y over a ten-year mine life.
A capital cost of A$180-million has been estimated for the project, based on a conventional 2.4-million-tonne-a year carbon-in-leach project, ASX-listed Geopacific Resources reported on Monday.
“We are extremely pleased at how the project has evolved over the past year. Our PFS indicates a robust, openpit mine plan with strong, steady state production over a long mine life,” said Geopacific MD Ron Heeks.
“Woodlark benefits from flat topography, wide zones of ore from surface, a substantial proportion of free-dig material, as well as the close proximity of the plant to the pits and waste dumps. These factors result in an impressive strip ratio and higher operating margins.”
Heeks said that the PFS presented a low-cost solution for treating low-grade ore, to improve returns and to deliver a project pay-back estimated at two years.
The Woodlark project is expected to generate free cash flow of about A$388-million over the life of the mine, and is estimated to have a post tax internal rate of return of 33%.
The PFS is based on a reserve of 34.7-million tonnes, grading 0.99 g/t gold for more than 1.1-million ounces of gold, and a resource of 47-million tonnes at 1.04 g/t gold for 1.57-million ounces of gold.
Geopacific will now complete a definitive feasibility study, targeted for the third quarter of this year.